Angelgate

The scandal began in September 2010 after Michael Arrington, editor of the TechCrunch publication, wrote in his blog that he had been turned away from a secret meeting among so-called "super angels" he knew,[3] held at Bin38, a wine bar in San Francisco's Marina District.[4] The participants at the meeting, among other things, discussed how they could compete with other angels, venture capitalists, and the Y Combinator business incubator for the limited pool of worthy investment opportunities.[5] Arrington said that after the meeting, he had been informed by two of the attendees that the investors had discussed how to fix low valuations for new start-up companies, and how to keep better-funded venture capitalists from investing.[6]

The blog became the subject of discussion among the Silicon Valley start-up community over the next several days.[7][8] Investor Ron Conway, whose business partner attended the meeting, wrote an email highly critical of the angels involved and called the event "despicable and embarrassing".[9] Dave McClure, a well-known angel present at the event,[7] wrote in a blog that Arrington's account was inaccurate, and a tweet (later deleted) complaining about Conway.[10] Chris Sacca wrote a lengthy email that defended the participants and was critical of Conway, which was also leaked to TechCrunch.[11]